All right, this morning I'd like you to turn with me for just a moment to Jude. If you remember last Sunday, I spoke to you about Cain, where God speaks here, and of course this is a prophetic book, and he's speaking about the kind of people there are in the world, and the kind of people that there will be in those last days. And I think that in Jude here, it mentions so well the type people at the, let's say, the tenth verse, where it begins by saying, these speak evil, speaking of these people, of those things which they know not, but that which they know naturally as brute beasts. You never thought God would classify a man that way, would you, huh? Brute beasts. And yet, we wouldn't have to look for, would we, huh? All I have to do is usually read any edition of the newspaper to find easily what God is speaking about, brute beasts. Some of the things we read in the newspapers, you know, we say to ourselves, how is it possible that a human being could have done this thing? I think of the killing of babies and things of this character. And I think, you know, they call it a syndrome, beating syndrome. becoming very large throughout the country. I forget how many hundreds and hundreds of babies die every year from this. But it makes me think of brute beasts, not only in this area. I happen to touch that because I see it in the newspapers quite regularly. There were three recently, I believe, in the newspapers, and impossible to believe hardly, and yet I remember where it says, he that offendeth one of my little ones, it would better that a millstone be tied around his neck and he be cast into the sea. And I think of this very much. And like Grootbeest, he says, that's how they act. You've met men like that. That's why you women don't walk the streets at night, as I remember. There was a day when you might possibly have walked out from your home and Gone down a dark street to the stores or something like that. Nobody does it in Malvern. We've had enough rapes in Malvern to keep the women off the streets. And never get in the newspapers. We had three in about seven weeks a year ago. Never were in the newspapers. Brute beasts. And beloved, we're living in an age where if ever there were brute beasts, we're finding them right now. right in the communities we live, and it doesn't make any difference whether you're living in a poor community or a rather rich community. Not a bit of difference. Sometimes it's worse in the rich communities. And it doesn't matter much in the schools. I was reading an article that just said their biggest problem with marijuana and dope is not in the poor neighborhoods as much as in the rich now. There's a school on Long Island here that is in one of the richest neighborhoods in Long Island, has the greatest problem with marijuana. Fathers and mothers, lots of money. Look at Stony Brook College, Citadel, for dope and marijuana. The high school out in that area, one of the highest high schools, dope and marijuana. Unbelievable, unbelievable. Not far from us here in a high school, over 75% are taking marijuana. That right from the district attorney's office. Don't know what to do about it. Don't know where to turn. He said, we haven't got enough institutions to even take care of them and help them. So we're living in a rough, rough age, beloved. Brute beasts, what they know naturally, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they've gone in the way of Cain. I spoke of that. And they've ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Corrie. These are spots in your feast of charity or love. When they feast with you, they didn't even come to the Lord's table. You know, sometimes you hear that. I will hear somebody, they'll say, how could that be? These people lived right down the block from me. Oh, I thought they were such a wonderful family, such an honorable man. And yet suddenly I see his name in the newspaper. Look at this thing he's involved in. Why, do you know if sin suddenly became public, all secret sin? Can you imagine? All secret sin suddenly was in the newspapers. Why did it have to have an edition so long? I mean, you wouldn't know what to do. When I go up to the, if I might say this, when I go up to the drugstore in Malvern, Mr. Ackerman says to me, if I could write a book on the sin in Malvern that I know because I'm I'm the head of this drug store," you'd be amazed. Sin. He says, rampant. He says, I know more about it than anybody else in the village. Sin. Just imagine, huh, if some Sunday they needed an edition of the newspaper with all the secret sins in Nassau County, there wouldn't be enough newspapers to put out. It would be unbelievable. Unbelievable. The local motels are known as citadels of sin. The police chief tells me, we can't do a thing about it. Citadels of sin. So the average motel owner in Linbrook or any of these areas is making $64 a day for every room. That's what they're getting. That's what the chief told us. Now, if you don't think sin is rampant, beloved, it's rampant. It's all around us. They do naturally, right? You know, people tell me I believe in human nature. Well, I have to point to this, you know. They do naturally. Notice that. In those things, they do those things that they know naturally. You see? In those things, they correct themselves. These are spots in your feast of love when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water carried about of winds. Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. You know, they think they're getting away with it. Not getting away with it. The Christian who can sin with impunity, and it doesn't bother his heart, and he carries on his liaisons and his all kinds of sin, and it does nothing to his heart, and there's no grief there, no heavy burden, so that he flees to Christ immediately, indicates that the Holy Spirit is not dwelling within his body, because sin grieves the Holy Spirit, and you can't be happy with a grieved spirit. You can't separate the two. The spirit of a man is the man. And so there's an impossibility here of living in this sin. These are, as he says, they do naturally those things that they know and corrupt themselves therein. And then he says, these people are like Cain. You see? He doesn't allow you any room. He says, they'll feast with you at your Lord's table. They'll be there, but they're going to be like Cain. They believe in God. For Cain believed in God. Both Cain and Abel believed in God, remember that. They both brought their offering to God. They acknowledge that, as I said last week. But Abel's offering indicated he knew what sin was, and that for sin, someone had to die. And so he brought to the firstlings of his flock, and the fact thereof, to indicate he knew, just as Adam and Eve were clothed with coats of skins, It required sacrifice to give them covering for their sin. And so it abled, but not with Cain. Cain was like the man I spoke before, who brought the works of his hands. He planted, and he had a wonderful crop, and he brought of the fruit of his hands all the beautiful fruit to God. Why, this is more beautiful than my brothers. brother has merely slain an animal and brought you the fat they are of. Certainly, God, look at my fruit." And God looks down and he says, I have respect to Abel's offering, but unto thy offering I have no respect. Why? Because Abel says, I know I'm a sinner, and you're telling me that you're good, and he is just the fruit of your hand. And there's an unrighteous, no, not one, you see, just as we read about Abraham, right? Same thing, same thing, just going over again. Now, the second one here is Balaam. Boy, this would, you know, as I've studied this thing on Balaam, it's so fabulous about this man because it says they're like this kind of a man also, these kind of people. and Balaam's great sin. He says here, the error of Balaam was for reward. And what Balaam had done, he had gone to Balak, the king of the Moabites, king of Moab, and he had gone to Balak. Balak had sent for him and said, what I want you to do, I'd like you to curse Israel. Because Israel and Balaam was a prophet in Israel. Imagine. Here is this prophet who is given great prophecies. May I say, God spoke through many, many men who are unbelievers. You can find it in your Old Testament time and again. He speaks to many unbelievers. He speaks to unbelievers when he speaks to them about salvation. He spoke. And the amazing thing is what God does with this man Balaam. Balak is king of the Moabites and he sees the Israelites. It's always the same problem. The Israelites are powerful. They're afraid of them. Got the same problem today, right? Arab nations all afraid. They say the only thing, the only reason Russia doesn't press this thing is because they believe right now Israel could walk through again in two weeks. And here, Balak calls the Balaam because he must have known the man had a price. And he offers him money if he'll come and curse Israel. He says, why, these Israelites are becoming big in the land. He said, they have great numbers. They're going to overrun us. He said, now, I will give you fame and prestige. If you will come, I will pay you well, but I want you to curse Israel. And when you curse Israel, the curse will be upon them and it will stop them. And I will possess the land, but I will see that you get high position because of this." Let me turn over with you now to Numbers, all right, Numbers 22. Here's your story. Let me read you first. You don't have to turn to this. I'll read you. There's another reference to Balaam and Peter. I'm going to read that to you. Here's what it says. Having eyes filled with adultery, and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, a heart they have exercised with covetous practices. Some have even cursed children, which have forsaken the right way and have gone astray and have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness and was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbade the madness of the prophet. Now, over in these portions here, over in Numbers, the 22nd to the 24th chapters, he has much to say. Number one, let me deal first with that ass, you know, speaking. Because sometimes people, you know, are saying, Pastor, do you really think, now be truthful with me, Pastor, will you? Do you really believe that the dumb ass spoke, yeah? I just happen to believe God, you see. I just happen to believe God. Sure, I believe the dumbass spoke. I believe a lot of other things that a lot of other people don't believe. I happen to believe that Jonah was swallowed. Now, I see recently that a lot of Sunday school lessons are throwing that out. Now they just say, this is a mythical terminology about Jonah being swallowed. I happen to believe that Christ's death on the cross was sufficient for my sins. I happen to believe that he was born of a virgin. I happen to believe a lot of things that these other men don't believe. And I want to tell you that when God says the dumbass is fake, he's fake. And he's fake for a specific reason. Now notice what it says here, I'm beginning at the 22nd chapter, and here is the part where Balak sends for Balaam, their names are similar. And down the 7th verse it says, the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination. their hand and they came unto Balaam and spake unto him the words of Balak." They were going to ask Balaam to curse the people. Now, you know, sometimes there should be a great help here to some people. May I say this? There are some of you who've been saved out of other sectarian groups. You've come to Jesus Christ. You found him as your personal Savior. And there are some right here this morning because I know them. And it's just been a recent experience. It's not something old. A lot of people think we're grown up now and we're in a very intellectual age and such things as I mentioned are not happening. I want to tell you they're happening. So you just come to Christ as your personal savior. You found him as your very own. You come from a family and you go home to the family and the old mother or the father says to you, There's going to be a curse upon your children because of what you did. God will curse the children. Then the first time they get a cold, mother says, what did I tell you? See? God's curse. Because you left this church and you went to that church. I want to tell you, God's going to prove to us here, it's a strange thing, but He takes a wicked prophet to show us that He tried to curse Israel and He couldn't, because He says to Balak, and I'll read it to you, when I would curse Israel, God says, bless! What am I going to do? Got to call on God to curse somebody. Well, I want to tell you, God is against all sorts of things like this. Turn over to Deuteronomy 18, 10 to 12, because it's just mentioned divination here. 18, Deuteronomy, 10 to 12. This will give you a good idea of what God thinks about anything about curses and divination and the speaking of the dead. He mentions the word here and the chromosome. necromancer. The necromancer, according to Webster's dictionary, is one who communes with the spirits of the dead. I want you to see what God says about people who claim that they commune with the spirits of the dead. Notice what exactly He has to say. May I say the fellow recently who has been talking about communing with the dead, you know, is, of course, Bishop Pike. You've read about him communing with his son. I want you to see what God has to say about communing with the dead. There shall not be found among you anyone that makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire. You've heard about these people who have snakes bite them, you know? Gonna prove God now? Have those poisonous snakes bite you, and then you see you can get out of this thing. God says, don't you do anything like that. He says, anyone who does a thing like this, or uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consultant with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, this is one who communes with the dead, for all that do these things are, and what? Abomination unto the Lord. Don't you ever get involved with fortune tellers and tea leaves and that kind of stuff. You're a Christian. You're in love with Jesus Christ. Sometimes, you know, I hear about people, let's ask the Ouija board. Well, if you want a yes, you can push that thing to yes pretty good. Ouija board only says yes or no. I don't think it says anything else. I want you to notice it's an abomination to the law. Any idea that somebody can bring a curse, some witch, or anybody can go and claim this talking with the dead and bringing their message back, God says, I don't want that. In the Webster Dictionary, it says, it is one who communes with the spirits of the dead. God says, this is not for the church of Christ. If the devil do this, forget it. If it's mentioned in the Word of God, it's only there because it is truth. There are men who have amazing capacities, and Satan himself has tremendous capacity, so much so that he nearly deceived God's elect. We're to be careful. I couldn't help but think this with Bishop Pike, you know, because this is where Balaam comes in. He's going to curse people. He's going to bring the curse of God down upon God's people. And I couldn't help but think, I just was reading this week in Newsweek on Bishop Pike. He just put in Look Magazine, he just remarried, and he says, we're joining the ever-swelling ranks of the church alumni. Well, now, as I know alumnus, it means graduate, right? You've gotten beyond the church stage. Now he's an alumni of the church. Then he goes on to say this. This is the man who claimed that he had this, you've read it, about his talking to the dead, talking to his son. He says, last winter I lost all believing hope that the church, my faith, could survive because my friend The 56-year-old bishop, Right Reverend C. Kilmer Myers, tried to stop my marriage." Now, beloved, this always tells you how your faith is, you see? His faith is horizontal. You know, when I read these things, I just say to myself, how could this thing be? A man says, my friend failed me, so I gave up Jesus. But listen, I know born-again Christians have said things like this. Someone offended me in church, I'm not going anymore. Well, now, this isn't faith. You never say that. Do you go to church because friends go? Or do you go to church because you love Christ and you have to worship him? What a little teeny faith it is that says somebody offended me and I'm giving the whole thing up. What a tragedy! This is why I continually say to you, our faith must be vertical, you see? You have your eyes on Jesus. What does Jesus say? Set your affections on things above, where Christ dwells, and whatsoever things are lovely and pure and of good report, think on these things, you see? You see, the vertical gaze. If you have your eyes on Jesus, you don't worry about anybody else. Oh sure, it breaks your heart a little bit. Why listen, if I as a preacher had been offended in every little thing, you think I'd be a preacher? Why no. Do you think I ever get angry about anything like that? No, why should I get angry? Really, I'm preaching for Christ. When I preach to you sometimes, you may notice my eyes will be cast upward, and I'm really preaching to the Lord and saying, Lord, let it fall on the people. No preacher preaches that he may satisfy the people. He preaches that he may satisfy the Lord. and in the satisfying of the Lord, souls are one to Jesus Christ. So we must never get, imagine, here's a man, a bishop of the church, to make a statement such as that which has nothing to do with the faith that we've been speaking about. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now this is a tremendous statement, and he sounds like a little teeny baby knowing nothing when he says, my friend offended me, he wouldn't marry, so now I'm an alumni of the church, I've graduated beyond it, and I don't want any more to do with it. What a tragedy, and yet there'll be people who will be affected by that man. He says religion is not dead, even if the church is. He says people want interpersonal relationship, and as an alumnus of the church, I hope to stay in contact with my alma mater. There's no reason Newsday changes the title, Jim Pike concludes. They drop the bishop. Why I can't return for a few homecoming games to the church. Well now, beloved, it hardly seems possible, does it? And yet this is the very thing that we're being warned of here in the Scripture. He says, the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hands. They were going to ask this man Balaam, who was a prophet, to become one who would be in the form of a charmer, a witch, and a cromancer, all of these, and would curse Israel. And it's hard to believe what Balaam did. Notice in the 12th verse there, would you, in that 22nd chapter what it says, And God said to Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them. Thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed. Now this is God's divine will. This is God's grace. Do you think Israel was really that good? No, they weren't. Israel was a mighty wicked nation. They had been under tremendous wicked influences. There was sin galore in Israel's camp. But God said, don't you dare do it. God says that to the church of Jesus Christ. What does Jesus say to us? Jesus says, now listen, the wheat and the tares will go up side by side. Don't you try to get the tares out and just keep the wheat. You don't know. This is in the church of Jesus Christ. In Israel, there was this tremendous gap. How many went into the promised land? How many fell in the wilderness? Why, in this little incident we're speaking of here, over 20,000 men died because of their sin. And so it is with the church of Jesus Christ, or Israel, God says, in my divine mercy and grace, Israel is blessed. church, true church, is blessed. Don't you dare touch it. He says, don't you dare try to curse it. He tells the church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. You are mine. No one can curse you or touch you. Do you know that, child of God? Have you gone to some penny scale and you put the penny in and it says you're not going to be successful this year? You're going to lose all your money and you're going to be unfortunate in love. Some people go away heartbroken. Oh no. Listen, there are Christians going to the tea rooms. There are Christians going to fortune tellers. It's a great business in this United States of ours, so much so that high public officials run in to see certain Madam Rama. Of course, she's gonna tell them whether they'll be attacked by Russia this year or next. Some of our highest government officials, you can read it in their magazines. Divination. What does he say to them? He says, bail them, don't you dare go with them. He says, you can't curse them, they're blessed. So what does Balaam do? He says to the prince of the Balak, get you into the land for the Lord refuses to give me leave to go with you. And the princes of Moab rose up, went to Balak, said, Balaam refused to come with you. Balak sends him back again, more money. Figured he had a prize, brings more money back. He says, I want you to curse Israel. Well, now, if Balaam's heart had been right with God, you know what he would have said? Take your money and go back. I can't do a thing about it. No, he doesn't say that. God has just said to him, don't you dare go with him. He says, stay a little while. Peradventure, he says, I'll speak to God tonight again about this. Imagine. Can you believe it? Can you believe it? He says, I'll speak to God again about this. He's indicating he might have changed his mind. Notice what he does. He says, 19th verse, therefore, I pray you, tarry for a little while, that I may know what the Lord will say unto me more. And God came unto Balaam at night and said to him, if the men come to Hercule, rise up and go with them. But yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do. And Balaam rose up in the morning, he saddled his ass and went with the princes of Moab. Notice, and God's anger was kindled because he went. Isn't that amazing? He comes a second time. God says, all right, I told you first what my will was. You have no reason to come back to me. Now I'm going to put the final test on you, Balaam. You go with those men and yet say what I say. Balaam's heart had been right with God. He never would have gone back. Do you remember what he did with Israel? Israel had the manna. Do you remember? They had all the manna, and what do they say? Lord, we're sick of this manna! Give us meat to eat! Fed up! What does it say? And God gave them meat to eat, but he brought leanness to their soul. He gave them what they wanted, but he brought leanness to their soul. And here God says, you go ahead. Because the minute Balaam set out with those men, he indicated, I don't go along at all with the things that God has said here. I'm going with them. The minute he did, it says, imagine two verses apart, it says, and God was angry with them because they went. God said, go ahead. Who would be like you? You come to God, you know. Say, Lord, I've been wondering about this. I've been a little doubtful. I tell you, there's a worldly crowd that's been asking me time and again if I'd come to their parties. And now, Lord, I know that a year ago, too, I wouldn't have had to come to you if my heart was that way then. But times are changing. Times are changing. Lord, two, three, four, five years ago, I'd never go to a movie. Ah, it's a new generation, though. Everything's changed now. In a filthy movie, Lord, I would never go near. And worldly crowds and their drinks and their cocktails and their dirty stories and all this, ah, not for me. But Lord, that was a while ago. And I have to say, things are changing. And I can just picture God, with whom there's no variableness and there's no changing. And you come and you say to him, now Lord, maybe you've changed your mind. I thought I'd pray about this thing again and ask you, is it okay now? After all, we're living in a new world, new generation, new mores, new morals. We're free. God's looking down from heaven and saying, you're bound. You're free because you love me. You're free because your spirit is free, and you know where you're going, and you've had the joy of the Lord in your hearts in the past. If you want to get involved in these things, you will be bound by them. But if that's what you want, if that's it, you go ahead. And the minute you take the step Christ speaks to your heart. Oh, how often I've had people say to me. I had someone come to me a few weeks ago and say, you know, Pastor, I have to tell you something. I know that you keep it to your heart, but I was up on Broadway. I've heard so much about this movie. I knew it wasn't the kind of movie any Christian or anybody should see. And he said, I just went in. He said, it wasn't that it was dirty, but he said, it just, he says, I've never gone to movies. He said, my heart for 25 years, he said, I've never seen a movie. He said, somehow, I don't know what happened. He said, the devil just got the better of me. And he said, I entered that place. And he said, I want to be frank with you. I got inside. I was there for 10 minutes. And he said, the Holy Spirit was so crushing me. said I had to shut my eyes, and after ten minutes I walked out, and I prayed to God as I walked out the front door. I sort of looked around me, fearing lest some brother or sister I might stumble would see me, and it would cause them great heartache. Beloved, God hasn't changed. You know, aren't we a little silly about talking about—oh, I didn't realize the time was going. Aren't we a little silly talking about mores? You know, as though we make our mores, we make our morals, you know? We do all this. God's anger was kindled because he went, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Imagine, huh? God said, go ahead. If your heart is so far off that you don't recognize it yourself, I'll let you go, and I'll put an angel in your way, and you'll know. Beloved, that's happened to many a Christian, let me tell you. They've thought that they could do something and get away with it, and God has put His angel in their way. He's turned things upside down. Invariably, when I talk to people who've gotten themselves involved in secret sin or something that's crushing their lives, they'll say to me, and I can tell them beforehand, they'll say to me, Pastor, at least a dozen times, God put things in my way to stop me. He did everything, and I kept brushing them aside and passing them aside. And that's exactly, incidentally, what Balaam did. What happened with the ass? The first thing he did, he runs against, he sees, imagine what God is saying, here's a dumbass, he sees the angel and Balaam is so far off from God, he doesn't see him. That's what God is saying, a dumbass. And what does the ass do? He sees the angel with the sword and he runs Balaam into the wall and crushes his foot. What does Balaam do? He says he smokes him. He beats him. Get up, get going. Goes a few steps. And what does he do next? Instead of crushing him to the wall, he falls down under him. Can't go any further. What does he do? He beats the ass. Get up, get going. And the third time, he starts out and the ass turns around and looks up at him. Notice, the angel of the Lord stood in the path in the vineyard, 24th verse, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself under the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, and he smote her again. The angel of the Lord went further and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn. Imagine how tight God's making, either to the right or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel, she fell down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled again. He smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me three times? And Balaam said to your ass, Because thou hast mocked me. If there were a sword in my hand, I would kill you. For God is saying, Balaam, you mocked me. because you knew my commandment not to go. From the very beginning, you mocked me. And you have said if you had a sword in your hand, you would kill the ass. And the ass is letting you know, Balaam, you have mocked your God by going with those men who are leading you into deep sin. Well, it will remember this. Yes, the dumbass spake, and all God is saying, isn't it strange? Here is Balaam. He walks, and he can't even see the angel trying to stop him. So God uses the dumbass and finally has to speak to him through the dumbass and say to him, don't you understand? You've mocked me. And then he says, am I not thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day, and I ever want to say unto thee? And he said, nay. And this is, oh, God is saying, didn't you know I've been yours right from the very beginning? I've been beside you all along. Have I ever failed you before? That's what he asked. Have I ever failed you before, huh? Have I? Has not my commandments been good to you? And you mock me now? Therefore, I have a dumb ass have to speak to you. You can't see my angel, but I have to take a dumb animal to speak to you. Oh, God grant that we see when obstacles are put in our way and turn from that way. Let us pray. Father, we thank Thee for Thy Word this morning. Bless it to our hearts. Lord, what a terrible tragedy. Yet there are Christians today Thou hast said in Hebrews, the angels are the ministering spirits to the saints. Lord, undoubtedly many a time an angel has stood before us, and we have not seen him. And he sort of waved the sword of God, the sword of the Spirit in front of us, and God has to use a hundred other ways to try to talk to us. Some other incident has to come into our lives, and finally we recognize God's been dealing with us all along. He's been trying to stop us. He's been trying to hold us back. He's been trying to make us see that we're wrong. Oh, God, open our eyes. Open our eyes. Help us to see that you've never changed. You've never changed. Bless this people. May they seek to live that life of Christ. that He desires them to live. In Jesus' name, amen.